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Auto Makers May Ask EPA
To Reduce Sulfur in Gasoline

By

John J. Fialka Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated March 18, 1998 12:20 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- U.S. auto makers will ask the Environmental Protection Agency for nationwide regulations to lower the sulfur content of gasoline as a way to promote the sales of "low-emission" vehicles and boost their effectiveness.

The move, announced by the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, triggered a row with the oil industry, which plans to meet with the EPA on Friday to unveil its own plan on how to deal with sulfur in gasoline. Sulfur tends to interfere with the operation of more powerful catalytic converters in newer cars.

"EPA is already studying this. We want to push them," said Dick Klimmisch, the AAMA's vice president of engineering affairs. The auto makers' proposed national standard would match one already in force in California, which reduces the content of sulfur in gasoline to no higher than 80 parts per million from 340 parts per million.

"This would have a dramatic impact," said Frank O'Donnell, executive director of the Washington-based Clean Air Trust, an environmental watchdog group. California, he said, has found that the low-sulfur gas has reduced smog levels by 10% to 20%, because it helps catalytic converters more efficiently remove smog-creating hydrocarbons from exhausts.

An American Petroleum Institute spokesman charged that the move could raise gasoline prices by as much as 20 cents a gallon. The oil industry is expected to propose reducing sulfur content only in areas with chronic smog problems, such as the Northeast.

An EPA spokesman said the agency is studying how to fairly balance the costs of reducing smog emissions between the auto makers and the oil refiners. "We have to be the honest brokers here," he said, explaining that the Clean Air Act requires new tailpipe-emission standards by 2004.

However, Detroit hopes to find a growing market for low-emission vehicles before that. According to the AAMA's Mr. Klimmisch, they will be introduced along the East Coast next year and nationwide by 2001. Behind them will come "ultra" low-emission vehicles.

Mr. Klimmisch also asserted that lower-sulfur gas would cost only one to five cents more a gallon, disputing the oil industry's estimate.

Separately, the EPA said it has cited three
Ford Motor Co.
assembly plants in the Detroit area for alleged Clean Air Act violations. The agency asserts the plants violated monthly limits on volatile organic compounds.

Ford takes "every environmental matter very seriously" and is working closely with federal and local governments on the issues, a Ford spokeswoman said. "We hope to have them resolved soon."